February 11th, 2025 at 1pm EST
Enactment of the Clean Air Act (CAA), Endangered Species Act (ESA), and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), three of the primary federal environmental laws, all coincided with the height of fire suppression and exclusion in the United States. These laws fail to acknowledge or account for the importance of fire in many fire-adapted and fire-dependent ecosystems, particularly in the American west, or the imperative for fire restoration to improve resiliency and reduce wildfire risk as identified by western science and Indigenous knowledge. We review the statutory and regulatory provisions of these federal laws to identify how the existing policy framework misaligns with the unique role of fire in ecosystems and with Tribal sovereignty, identify specific barriers and disincentives to beneficial fire use, and propose specific policy reforms.
Presented by: Sara A. Clark & Jenna Archer
Sara A. Clark is a partner at Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger LLP, a public interest law firm dedicated to representing non-profit organizations, Tribes, and public agencies, based in San Francisco. She has worked extensively with Tribes, Tribal organizations, land trusts, and prescribed burn associations to help implement beneficial fire projects and advance beneficial fire policy at the state and federal level. She serves as co-lead of The Stewardship Project, a federal policy and advocacy group that brings together Indigenous practitioners and western scientists. Ms. Clark is the lead author of the Good Fire reports for the Karuk Tribe and served as a subject matter expert on issues related to cultural burning and Tribal sovereignty in the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission. She also serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors for Save the Redwoods League.
Jenna Archer is an attorney at Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger LLP, a public interest law firm. She has worked with land trusts, Tribal organizations, and local and state government entities to further her clients’ work in land conservation and stewardship. Her practice areas include land trust and conservation law and beneficial fire policy. Ms. Archer has worked with The Stewardship Project to develop federal policy recommendations to promote the use of beneficial fire, including prescribed fire, Indigenous cultural burning, and wildfire managed for resource benefit.
